Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, November 4, 2003

An Indiana chemical company promised Monday to stop manufacturing two industrial mixtures of flame retardants that California officials say are harmful to women and wildlife.

Great Lakes Chemical Corp. in West Lafayette, Ind., said it would phase out the two mixtures of PBDEs -- polybrominated diphenyl ether -- by 2005 instead of the 2008 final ban date passed earlier this year by the state Legislature.

The mixtures are called "penta" and "octa." Penta is used to prevent burning of polyurethane foam in furniture and mattresses. Octa is added to plastic in printers, keyboards and casings.

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Anne Noonan, Great Lakes vice president of technology and marketing, said her company is already putting a replacement product on the market.

"We're happy we have a better product both from a fire safety and an environmental profile standpoint," Noonan said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved sale of the replacement, Firemaster 550. Environmental groups have questioned the adequacy of the EPA's evaluation, and warn that it too could become an environmental problem.

Stephen Johnson, the EPA's acting deputy administrator, called Great Lakes' decision "a responsible action that is likely to result in reduced amounts of these chemicals in the environment."

Yet, the EPA hasn't concluded that PBDEs pose an unreasonable risk to human health or the environment, said an agency statement.

Called the cousins of PCBs, the PBDEs have been found in the breast milk of Bay Area women and in San Francisco Bay harbor seals. Laboratory studies show that PBDEs can impair brain development, particularly in the very young, and alter thyroid hormone balance, which is critical to the function of the central nervous system.

California, citing risks to health and the environment, was the first state, in July, to get rid of the two industrial mixtures.

The environmental groups that lobbied in the Legislature for the state ban hailed on Monday the company's decision to dump penta and octa, saying there were nonchemical alternatives to preventing fire, such as encasing electronic units in metal rather than plastic.

Some had criticized California's delay in phasing out the chemicals until 2008, estimating that based on current use, 365 million additional pounds could be sold between 2003 and 2008.

Bill Walker, West Coast vice president of the Environmental Working Group,

a Washington, D.C., nonprofit research organization, said it has concerns that the new product tested and touted by Great Lakes as a substitute hasn't been properly evaluated.

"We have concerns that the substitute hasn't been adequately tested for either toxicity or bioaccumulation. There is no evidence that there have been any tests conducted on laboratory animals. We continue to believe that the safest solution is to look at the nonchemical alternatives," said Walker.

In response, EPA spokesman David Deegan said the agency has completed a preliminary assessment of all available information on the replacement product.

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"To this point, everything we've looked at indicates that it's not persistent in the environment, it's not toxic to aquatic organisms nor does it appear to bioaccumulate, or concentrate up the food chain," Deegan said.

"This definitely appears to be a much safer alternative. For all of the flame retardants, we're continuing to evaluate all new information as it becomes available."

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